The Clean Energy Finance Corp (CEFC) have just completed their first smart meter technology financing, further extending the advantages of distributed clean energy to Australian households and businesses. They will commit $35M to finance the expansion of intelliHUB – a joint venture between Pacific Equity Partners and global smart meter leader Landis+Gyr.
The new intelliHUB joint venture is set to become Australia’s leading provider of smart meter solutions, servicing Australian energy retailers and consumers alike. A smart meter is an electronic device that records consumption of electric energy and communicates the information to the electricity supplier for monitoring and billing.
“Smart meters give energy consumers better control over their energy consumption, which is essential for lowering carbon emissions. They also give consumers the ability to better understand where and how they can benefit from behind-the-meter solar PV and energy storage solutions,” explained CEFC CEO Ian Learmonth.
As electricity is one of the largest sources of emission for Australia, the company have stressed their importance in investing in renewable energy as well as implementing a range of proven measures to lower day-to-day energy consumption, with smart metering as a large part of this plan.
“I am confident that together [with the CEFC] we can deliver technology and innovation in smart metering and drive connectivity and competition,” commented intelliHUB’s CEO Adrian Clark. Currently, there are roughly 9 million metering points in the National Electricity Market, through smarter technologies, customers will see future benefit from more meaningful information relating to their energy consumption and hopefully make smarter energy consumption choices.
“[Through smart metering] customers will be better informed when considering investment in solar and storage solutions by matching system specifications to actual consumption patterns, through improved data provision. Electricity network operators will be able to harness greater insights to enable a smoother operation of the energy grid, facilitating the improved integration of renewables and energy storage,” commented CEFC Grid Solutions and Storage Lead Simon Brooker.
More information can be found here.